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Men of Valor: Apparently I've been outed: I'm the 'team' working on this for Aspyr. More on this later.

UnrealEngine3: One thing I'm learning by fighting with a different project that has nothing to do with UE3: modern 3D graphic APIs are really friggin intimidating. I'm really growing to hate both DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.0, which is unfortunate considering there isn't really any part of UE3's renderer that doesn't concern itself with DX9-level tech. This makes me grumpy. I feel like the Unix equivalent of those two old dudes in the balcony on the Muppet Show.

OpenAL: (If you want the Apple/VoIP patch source code, it's on the mailing list, but not in CVS as far as I know. Check the openal-devel list archives at openal.org.)

Duke3D: If you have a new disc from 3DRealms (the disc has info about Duke Nukem Forever on it), and the installer doesn't work with it, use this build:

...the new print run from 3drealms made some minor disc layout changes. The above installer has some hacks to deal with this this disc revision. If you've got a working installation, upgrading is optional. This installer now works with every known Duke3D Atomic Edition disc.

The Linux one has about a million changes over the stock 2225, since it's got all the MacOSX work on top of it. Consider it beta. The Mac version has one or two fixes, so it's worth updating.

Unreal Tournament 2004: Mac version 3339: http://0day.icculus.org/ut2004/ut2004-macpatch3339.dmg.bz2 This one is big (90 megs instead of 15), because it installs the ECE Bonus Pack. It is safe to use this even if you previously installed the ECE-BP, but there are some 3339 things that need to override the scripts shipped with the bonus pack, so this was easier than trying get everyone to install everything in the right order.

Other stuff: Boy, did I cause a ruckus with this whole GameSpy thing. The venom that is spilling across various Mac gamer forums is fairly impressive. I wanted to cover a few points.

- You can't just rip GameSpy out. Several people have written me saying that they have alternate solutions (some open source, etc) that provide the same functionality as GameSpy. This doesn't change the fact that the Windows game clients still "speak" GameSpy, so having an alternative isn't sufficient unless the PC side of things supports it, too.

- Having a tech replacement is only half the battle. You also need to run master servers.

- Most third party browsers are just using the GameSpy protocol. "Just ship Forward Observer X with ArmyOps" isn't a viable option.

- Most games only use GameSpy for the server browser. Once you find your favorite game server in the list, the game doesn't use GameSpy anymore... in the ArmyOps case, it's using Unreal's built-in networking code for everything from the initial connection to the in-game packets, just not the server browser.

- Some games use GameSpy for CD key verification. These games are a total loss without the GameSpy SDK, since even if you can get a server list, the server either won't know what to do with you, or will boot you for not providing a "valid" CD key. In these cases, you will _never_ be able to have Mac-to-PC compatibility. Most games I've worked on don't use this piece of GameSpy. Men of Valor does, unfortunately.

- Current Mac games that are shipping aren't going to stop working with GameSpy. This is about licensing for future titles.

- GameSpy's SDK, as long as I've been porting games, has always come in source code form, and has _always_ compiled on the Mac. I've never had any GameSpy tech support for the Mac, and have never needed it. It always Just Worked. As long as it remains in source form, I'll never call them for help...maybe that's the Linux hacker in me, but I'm a fan of solving problems myself as long as I'm empowered to do so. Someone pointed out that in terms of added network load, tech support and development, the biggest resource GameSpy needs to expend on the Mac is however much gasoline it takes to drive to the bank to cash the check.

- This is literally the only showstopper in ArmyOps 2.2.1 for the Mac. If I had a GameSpy license, I could recompile the game and ship it. As it stands, there isn't a clear or simple solution to this problem in the 2.2.1 timeframe.

- The short term solutions are not pleasant. The best case scenario is that we all find reasonable price points with GameSpy and ship our titles... More realistically, we'll surrender network compatibility on some titles, and wedge in some half-assed solutions, which are better than nothing.

- The longer term solutions involve an act of subversion. Namely, someone needs to step up: develop and market a product that replaces GameSpy. It's not a secret that GameSpy's SDK doesn't have any real competition at the moment. It's also not a secret that most PC developers would shed no tears for GameSpy if a better alternative came along. I will be daring and say a small, modestly-funded team could pull this off, and if they hit the right PC developers, could gain critical mass with a quickness. The obvious choices for this, if we're being Mac-centric, are either Aspyr or Destineer. I would suggest this might be best done by an independent company that has no sort of Apple affliation as their primary interest... you don't have to like the fact that PC developers have an irrational fear of Mac-oriented companies...and I don't want to have this fight about Linux clients five years from now. Getting a good Triple-A title on the PC to ship with this, Mac port or not, makes this much more intriguing to everyone else, though. After all, there're plenty of reasons to ditch GameSpy on the PC, too; this Mac episode just illustrates it...they could always inflate their prices universally. Smart developers will take notice now when it's still someone else's problem...because tomorrow, it could be their's, too.

- I know I sound like I'm attacking GameSpy here, but I'm just being practical...I'm a Mac developer with two projects in the pipeline that are screwed at the moment. If I get a call tomorrow telling me the SDK is reasonably priced again and the check has cleared, I'll delete this whole rant and sing GameSpy's praises from the mountain tops.

--ryan.

When this .plan was written: 2004-12-14 17:22:36
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